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Nicodemus

Top class coaching, anyone?

By Nicodemus, in Wind Tunnels

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Paige    0

Paige
If MacCormac is w. Blincoe make sure you get coaching from Sean. Blincoe is a great guy and also a great coach but I have improved and learned far more from Sean than Steve.

I'm lucky to have Sean at my fingertips seeing as he's at Lake Wales. If he's out there hit him up for all the coaching you can afford. Your flying and attitude will improve leaps and bounds. Sean is full of life and loves sharing all he knows about bodyflight (and that's a shit ton!). MacCormac is full of this energy and you can't not have a good time w. him, he's such a happy person :)
Tunnel Pink Mafia Delegate
www.TunnelPinkMafia.com

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SkymonkeyONE    3

SkymonkeyONE
Quote

As in most aspects of life, it's not what you know but WHO you know.



Paige, this quote bears repeating. As in any discipline, there are quite few people out there who will toot their own horn, yet have no real skill advantage over any other practiced individual. Guys who somehow manage to get people to pay their bills, yet have no gold medals hanging on their walls at home or any other proven competition experience. Guys that can't fly their asses out of a paper bag in the air, in a wind tunnel, or under canopy. The bottom line here is that sometimes "name" doesn't mean squat when you are looking for the best instruction. I can think of people in every "current" skydiving discipline who have parlayed their self promotion into careers before they had the requisite skill set to be coaching, instructing, or organizing. Oddly, in almost every case, this phenomenon has led to that individual becoming qualified on your, the person paying their fee's dime. It's most certainly the case in regard to tunnel time and tunnel skill.

Your previous post stating your preference out of those two people who were mentioned was right on time. It's your duty as a consumer to pick the best qualified person for the job. It's also your duty as a consumer to report your findings to others so that they can make informed choices. Tunnel time is expensive. It's ludicrous to pay someone as a "coach" who is simply going to use your tunnel time to screw around and better themselves without being able to articulate any lessons and make you the best flyer you can be. Buyer beware in this discipline.

Chuck

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Paige    0

Paige
I have received top class coaching from tunnel rats not many people know and world class skydivers that are great or just have a name people know. I'd have to say, I get better instruction from the tunnel rats most of the time. There are of course sky coaches that I love in the tunnel like Sean MacCormac, Joao Tambor, Fabian Ridel, & Juliana Se. Not only are they a joy to fly w., they are incredible at pushing your skills and improving your flying dramatically in just a 15 minute session. The gobs of tunnel time between them all is astounding and it shows in their coaching, flying techniques and styles.

I find that some of my students don't know who Juliana is and to me she is one of the best if not the best female tunnel flyer. I've never seen her in the sky but I have no doubt she is amazing there too.

I also have to agree that most coaches esp in the tunnel get good on their students time. I see many coaches in the tunnel demonstrating a skill to their students for almost half a session, sometiems over a minute. To me ,that seems silly. A good pre-brief and a short demo should do the trick (granted some need that long instruction but I don't think the majority do).

I get my students in there working on their skills. What's the point of having students if you are going to fly their time? You're not improving your coaching then, just your flying. If you're coaching you're probably getting free time some how, use that to improve your skills. I get very upset when coaches demonstrate for too long on my time, I feel jipped.

The biggest thing I tell students about THEIR tunnel time (regardless of who booked it, they are paying for it) is to OWN IT! You don't like how something is going, tell the coach, work on something else or a new method of communication. If a skill is going well and you want to work on it some more, don't move on immediately if the coach wants to. Stand your ground but recognize when it's time to move on to a new skill and follow your coaches wishes. Just don't let them steamroll over you.

For me the most successful coaching session are when I have a student who give me feedback. I always try and ask questions to see how things are going; some are forth coming w. answers and others I have to pry. I find if they have a lot to say they learn a ton more. If things aren't going well, I know then and there to change it up and try something new to make the session successful.

Tunnel time is expensive and so is coaching. Own your time people!
Tunnel Pink Mafia Delegate
www.TunnelPinkMafia.com

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skykittykat    0

skykittykat
I don't know Sean (although I may have met him at the Orlando tunnel or Lake Wales), but don't rule out Steve Blincoe.

I met him 4 years ago and then got freefly coaching off him in the Orlando tunnel a year later. He was an awesome coach and my only experience of coaches at that time were Airspeed and Stefan Lipp.

Steve represented the US in snowboarding or Aerials, or such like in the Winter Olympics, so as an athlete, he is tops.

I enjoyed his coaching style and I am sure that over the past 3 years he has improved.

Maybe try out both coaches - it is a very individualistic thing the coach/student relationship - we all relate differently to different styles of coaching.

Liz

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Paige    0

Paige
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Maybe try out both coaches - it is a very individualistic thing the coach/student relationship - we all relate differently to different styles of coaching.

Liz



That is the exact reason I made the post, Very good point to bring up. Everyone works well w. different coaches. You should never rule out a coach completely.

However, in the past 2 years Steve really hasn't been able to fly or coach much due to his shoulder injury and surgery. On the other hand, Sean has been cranking out their tunnel coaching, flying, and skydiving students so he's at the top of his game.

This is just my 2 cents and I know that's not worth much:D;):D

Edited because of a PM I received: Look, all of this is common knowledge aroudn the tunnel. I'm not airing dirty laundy that is a secret. People have a right to know about the coahing they are paying for. It's not cheap nor do many have gobs of $ to just throw away.

I like Blincoe, I have nothing againist him at all. He's a great guy.
Tunnel Pink Mafia Delegate
www.TunnelPinkMafia.com

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